











i:^;^v% 






V ^'^^ -^^c 



^>5^I' 



^^^^'^-^ 






v^' 



v"^' 



■°^^*r,'--^^^^^ 



^^'^'-'"^ 



'^-^^ 









V* • 















^ "V^^^'^o^ -^^^^^^'^r "-,^^^^-V' .. "^^ 








' -o^-^-^'/ v^-y "".-•^■^y .. 

















SPEECH 



MR. SOULE, OF LOUISIANA, 



NOX-INTERVENTIOX, 



IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 



MARCH 22, 1852. r .\\i 



■ There is a rank due lo llie Uniled States anion<r nations wliicli will be withheld, if not entirely 
lost, by the reputation of weakness." — If'ashington's Message of December 3, 1793. 




^^r 



WASHINGTON: 

PRINTED BY JOHN T. TOWERS 

1852. 



RESOLUTIONS. 



Gen. Cass' ameudraent, designed as a substitute for 
Mr. Clarke's resolutions : 

Resolved by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled, That, while 
the people of the United States sympathize with all nations 
who are striving to establish free Governments, yet they re- 
cognize the great principle of the law of nations which as- 
sures to each of them the right to manage its own internal 
affairs in its own way, and to establish, alter, or abolish its 
Government at pleasure, without the interference of any other 
Power; and they have not seen, nor could they again see, 
without deep concern, the violation of this principle of na- 
tional independence. 

Mr. Clarke's last resolution : 

Resolved, That although we adhere to these essential prin- 
ciples of non-intervention as forming the true and lasting 
foundation of our prosperity and happiness, yet whenever a 
provident foresight shall warn us that our own liberties and 
institutions are threatened, then a just regard to our own 
safety will require us to advance to the conflict rather than 
await the approach of the foes of our constitutional freedom 
and of human libertv. 



R. SOULE'S SPEECH. 



Mr. Claeke's resolutions, and tlie amendments moved 
to the same by Mr. Seward, of Xew York, and Gen- 
eral Cass, of Micliigan, being under consideration — 

Mr. SOULE, of Louisiana, rose and said : 
I am appalled, IMr. President, by the vast and impo- 
sing assemblage which I see congregated in this hall. 
I fear much, sir, that the announcement, so flatteringly 
made by some newsj)apers, of the part which it was 
presumed I would take in this contest, has raised expec- 
tations which it will not be in my power to gratify ; and 
the anxiety, the distrust, and torment, which such an 
apprehension is so well calculated to engender, are not 
a little augmented by the awful magnitude and the dif- 
ficulties of the subject before me. However, sir, I have 
no wish to avoid the task. It were too late for me now 
to disown its claims or to repudiate its exigencies. I 
will proceed with it, tremblingly, yet with some faint 
hope that I may still be able to bear its burden in a 
manner not altogether unbecoming the dignity of an 
American Senator. 

"Whatever be the fate that awaits the resolutions 
upon your table, Mr. President, the debate which has 
grown out of them will have its influence and bear its 
fruits. I rejoice that it has afforded us a fit opportuni- 
ty for proclaiming to the world our abiding faith in the 
rectitude and ultimate triumph of those great princi- 
ples on which rest the hopes and the destinies of man- 



MR. SOULE S SPEECH 



kind. AVe are heard at a great distance when vre speak 
from tlie high places which we occupy here. AYhat of 
]iope and encouragement, what of interest and sympa- 
thy we express for down-trodden and oppressed nations 
is echoed throughout the remotest regions of the world ; 
and while we give utterance to the thought, it runs 
swiftly on the magic wire, until it moves to congenial 
and harmonious vibration every liLre of the human 
heart. 

I liave no conception that tliere is so glaring a dis- 
crepancy in the sentiments entertained by those Sena- 
tors who first moved in this debate. What of disa- 
srreement I have been able to discern amonc: them, 
would seem to arise, rather from a misconstruction of 
the object aimed at Ijy each respectively, tlian from 
any real antipathy in their opinions as to what princi- 
ples we should assert and vindicate here. Though the 
original resolutions may have been intended (as I have 
no doul)t they were) as a sort of political breakwater, 
thrown up to compress and still those surges of the pop- 
ular sentiment to which I took occasion some time as:© 
to allude — though they seem to advocate impassive- 
ness, absolute irapassiveness, as the only policy under 
which we can grow and prosper — yet a discerning eye 
will not fail to detect that feverish and restless anxiety, 
the offspring of a keen and unerring foresight, which 
betrays itself tlirough the dul)ious, misty, timid, I had 
almost said l)ashful admission contained in the last of 
them, of a possible contingency on the occasion of which 
"a just regard to our own safety will require its to ad- 
vance to the covfict rather than air a it the approach of 
the foes- of conMitutional freedom and of human lihcrti/.'''' 

The policy so solemnly commended, and so skillfully 
developed in the remarkable speech by which the Sena- 



OS NO:V-INTERVENTK)TT. 



tor from Rliode Island (Mr. Claeke) opened tliis de- 
bate, is here held under check by the express reserva- 
tion- and protest that it may come to its last day, and 
be susperseded by another that tvill require us to ad- 
vance — mark the word ! — to advance to the conflict^ and 
■to fight for constitutional freedom and for human liberty. 

But, much to my wonder, and still more to my deep 
concern, that contingency, so strikingly pointed at in 
the resolutions, was entirely overlooked in the speech, 
Avhere it is not even alluded to. Sir, I had determined 
that it should not remain unlieeded, and I now plead 
its implied concessions in vindication of the views which 
I propose to lay before the Senate. 

I am decidedly against this countiy being pent up 
within the narrow circle drawn around it by the advo- 
cates of the policy of impassiveness. Escoi'ted though 
it comes to us by the authority and imposing names of 
men deservedly honored in our history, that policy has 
no claims to my sympathies — it is set forth in antago- 
nism to the policy by which the statesmen of the pro- 
gressive school attempt to initiate, as it is said, a system 
of interference with the affairs of other nations ; the 
hrst finds security in inertness ; the second, in action. 
One, under that infatuation which a long series of suc- 
cesses is so apt to produce, points to the past, and credits 
them all to a system of measures which 1)ut prefaced 
their history ; the other invokes the very state of things 
which those successes have brought about, and, obeying 
the dictates of new exigencies, strives to turn to profit 
the solemn warning '■^non iisdem artihus^ retinentur qui- 
lus comfparanturT I am for the last ; and, while vin- 
dicating its expediency, I shall attempt to show that the 
opposed policy cannot claim the support which it so 
freely borrows from the doctrines and teachings of the 



MR. SOLLE S SPEECH 



immortal sages under whose protection it shelters itself. 
Sir, the policy of Washington, as elucidated by his own 
acts, was by no means that unimpassioned, phlegmatic, 
cautious, and inactive policy which our op])onents would 
induce us to believe ; but, on the contrary, a watchful, 
sharp, and active policy, ready to interpose wherever 
and whenever a great interest or a great princijile was 
at stake, and disdaining thtit submissive wisdom which 
could abide the most revolting assumptions on the part of 
foreign powers, fi'om the moment that they did not affect 
too ostensi1)ly the immediate concerns of the republic. 
Through a most strange confusion, the i:)resumed priu- 
cijDles implied in the proclamation of neutrality in 1793 
ai'e made the ground-work — nay, the very foundation — 
of those proclamed in the Farewell Address of the re- 
vered patriot and hero ; yet who knows not that the 
neutrality adopted in 1793 was but an essentially tran- 
sient measure, looking solely to the existing situation of 
the country, and to the demands which that situation, 
with its surrounding perils, made upon it ? — that it was 
considered in no other light by General Washington 
himself is most unequivocally exhibited from the fact 
that, alluding to this very subject in his Farewell Ad- 
dress, he speaks of it thus : "The period is not far off 
when we may take such an attitude as Avill cause tJie 
neutrality wi: ^iay at any ti:\ie kesolve upon to v,y. ue- 
spECTED," ttc. And this is not the only evidence of the 
meaning which he intended that the ])roclamation should 
convey. It came to be debated in the cabinet council 
how far, in issuing that proclamation. General Washing- 
ton had not transcended the powers vested in the Pre- 
sident by the Constitution; and we have the authority 
of ]\lr. Jelferson to the eU'ect that " he opoloijiztd for 
the 2ise of the term neutrauty/' " The President," re- 



ON NOX-IXTERVENTION. 



marks Mr. Jefferson, " declared lie never had an idea 
tliat lie could bind Congress against declaring war, or 
that any thing contained in his proclamation could look 
beyond the day of their meeting." * * * The Pre- 
sident said "he had but one ol:)ject — the keeping our 
people quite till Congress should meet." 

Sir, the circumstances under which the neutrality of 
1793 was resolved upon are of sufficient interest, I should 
imagine, to deserve a passing notice, and to command 
attention, for a few moments at least, on the part of the 
Senate. 

We were just emerging from that sea of agitation 
which had been stirred up by the recent remodelling of 
the National Government, with the treasury exhausted 
by the incessant demands that were every day made 
upon it, to satisfy the obligations incurred during a pro- 
tracted and expensive war. We were unsettled, rest- 
less ; doubtful whether the new experiment would realize 
the hopes of those who had advised and attempted it. 
A war had just broken out between France and Eng- 
land — I should say, between France and coalized Eu- 
rope; — France alone struggling for her liberties and 
the liberties of mankind against the world in arms. The 
question arose what part America should act in that aw- 
ful conflict. Would she redeem those pledges which 
ardent and enthusiastic minds had persuaded themselves 
she was under, and, taking the part of France, strike by 
her side for the liberties of the world ? She could not 
j oin England in a crusade against those liberties. Would 
she, then, participate in the struggle, or would she rather 
remain a quiet spectator of the gigantic scene, and trust 
to God the destinies of her ally ? Necessity— stern, in- 
flexible necessity — could alone impel her to choose the 
last alternative. 



10 



MR. SOULES SPEECH 



" This was," says Lyman in his American Diplomacy, 
"an exti-aordinary period; P>ance had now become pro- 
fessedl}" a republic, and was threatened with annihilation 
by a European coalition, at the head of which was Eng- 
land." "The distance of America from Europe — the 
youth and peculiarity of her Government, at that time 
little understood, and certainly far from l^eing con- 
iirmed — the narrowness of her resources — the entire ab- 
sence of every species of armament — powerfulh^ com- 
bined to point out the course she should adopt." And, 
now, how cuiious it is to see what little that proclama- 
tion of neutrality did realize for America. It was is- 
sued in April, 1793. In the summer following, Great 
Britain, Russia, Spain, Prussia, and the empire of Ger- 
many entered into treaty, for the purpose, among other 
things, "of closing their ports and prohibiting the 
exportation of naval stores, corn, grain, and provisions, 
from their ports to the i)orts of France." They also 
engaged "to take all other measures in their ])ower for 
injuring the commerce of France," and to unite all their 
efforts " to lyi-event other powers not implicated hi the tear 
fr6m giving any protection whatever, directly or indi- 
rectly, in consequence of their neutrality^ to the com- 
merce or property of the French on the sea or in the 
ports of France." You well know, ^Mr. President, tliat 
in the celebrated treaty of Utrecht, between France and 
England, even naval stores were declared "free of war;" 
and you know also that there are treaties on record be- 
tween England and the United Proviiuo in 1(14."), with 
France in KWjT and KWIS, with S]>ain in 1713, with Den- 
mark in 17Si\ and with iviissia in ]S(»4, in which ^;rc>- 
zu'siofis are by name excluded from the list of contraband. 
Shall I say anything of the insults, Avrongs, outrages, 
ottered by England to .Vmjrica under the neutrality 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 



11 



policy ? Wliy, sir, tliey were siicli as to force upon us 
withiu less than a year the necessity of sending a special 
embassy to tlie court of St. James, to plead redress for 
past offences, and, at all events, to obtain security that 
our rights, under the neutrality, should be in future re- 
cognised and respected. 

The alarm of the country — its suiferings, its impa- 
tience, and irritation — may well be judged from the in- 
timations which our minister was directed to give of 
them in England. Says our Secretary of State, in his 
instructions to Mr. Jay, 1794: "You will keep alive in 
the mind of the British minister that opinion Avhich the 
solemnity of a special mission must naturally inspire of 
the strong agitations excited in the people of the Uni- 
ted States by the disturbed condition between them 
and Great Britain." '" '" '■ ''• "You will mention, 
with due stress, the general irritation of the United 
States, at the vexations^ spoliations, captures^'' &c. &c. 

Such was the situation in which the United States 
found themselves in the year 1794, hardly ten months 
after the issuing of the famous proclamation. Mr. Jay 
succeeded in eftecting a treaty. What that treaty se- 
cured to the United States is what I propose now to 
investigate. His instructions were explicit. The anxiety 
of the United States to see those principles acknowl- 
edged, which alone could render our neutrality availa- 
ble, was extreme. What did the treaty end in ? Turn 
first to the instructions under which Mr. Jay w\n,s di- 
rected to act. He was to listen to the suggestions of a 
c'ommercial treaty, and to keep in view, amongst other 
objects, the following: 

1st. Kecl2:)rocity in navigation, particularly to the 
West Indies, and even to the East Indies. 

2d. Free ships to make free goods. 



12 MR. soule's speech 

3d. Proper security for the safety of neutral com- 
merce in other respects, and particularly by declaring 
provisions never to he contraband, except in the strong- 
est possible case ; by deiining a blockade ; by restrict- 
ing the o])portiinities of vexation in visiting vessels. 

And what did the treaty allow i Let me tell you : 
A direct trade between the United States and the West 
Indies in vessels not exceeding seventy tons in burden ; 
but the United States were under an obligation to re- 
strain their vessels from carrying certain articles, the 
produce of those islands, to any other place than the 
United States. The Americans were forbidden from 
" carrying any molasses, sugar, coffee, cocoa, or cotton, 
in American vessels, either from his Majesty's islands or 
from the United States, to any part of the world ex- 
cept the United States." The treaty restored the ports 
of the western frontier, but without indemnity for their 
long detention, or for the slaves carried oft" by Sir Guy 
Carleton. Ship timber, tar, hemp, sails, and copper 
were declared contraband, though free in all other trea- 
ties made by the Ignited States. Provisions were de- 
clared contraband, and there was an express declaration 
that the flag did not cover the merchandize — the only 
treaty ever signed by the United States in Avhich such 
an acknowledgment is to be found. England, however, 
at the peace of Utrecht, had acknowledged that the fag 
covered the merchandize. Thus nothing was secured. 
None of the rights which ]\Ir. Jay had been directed to 
a.ssert and vindicate were recognized, and the treaty 
signed by him justified the judgment ])assed upon its 
merits, tlnouL:']! the apjicllation by wliieli it went,of fl'?i 
instrument that settled nothing. Xor Avere those rights 
respected by England after the treaty. Her aggres- 
sions went on, increasing until they forced us into the 



ox NON-INTERVENTION. 13 

very extremities whicli tlie neutrality Avas intended to 
provide against; and we realized the pungent witti- 
cism by which one of our early statesmen defines a 
neutral power — '-'•apoioer that both belligerents plunder 
with impunity." 

Lyman, from whom I have already quoted, writes 
thus of the motives which induced the United States 
so long to forbear nnder repeated inflictions of outrage 
and wrong: 

"America, a new State, was thrust hastll}', with all the at- 
tributes of sovereignty, into the midst of the old nations of 
Europe. Not having grown up with them, trying her wings, 
feeling her strength as she advanced to mature age along 
with those powers, her relative position was not ascertained, 
and acts of the parties engaged in the European wars were 
patiently endured, not from want of sagacity and spirit, both 
to perceive and resist the injustice and wrong, but from a well- 
founded doubt and distrust of the real strength of the people," 
And, qualifying, afterwards, the system of self-denial 
which was then adopted, he adds that it was " both ori- 
ginally mistaken, and pursued to a pernicious extent." 

I desire now to direct the attention of the Senate to 
the sentiments entertained by Washington of the obli- 
gations which this country had assumed under the pro- 
clamation of neutrality. He clearly did not consider 
that it had so fettered this Government as to wrest from 
it all discretion to determine how far it could interfere 
and take concern in the affairs of the world. He was 
not the man who could have surrendered the right of 
asserting boldly and fearlessly those principles which 
were at the very bottom of our indejiendence, and 
stood up to our dignity, whenever and wherever they 
might be assailed or put in danger. 

Sir, at the very moment that he was instructing Mr. 
Jay to listen to propositions of a treaty on the part of 



14 MB. soule's speech 



England — at tlie very time he wa^ asserting, tbrough 
that minister, the ri<ilits of neutrals — he was urging al- 
so the expediency of soumliug ministers then at the 
Court of London, as to the proljal)ility of an alliance 
with their respective nations, to support certain princi- 
ples involving great international interests. 

I find amongst tlie instructions given to ^Ir. Jay, the 
folloAviiK^ : 

"You will have no diiriculty in gaining access to the minis- 
ters of Russia, Denmark, and Sweden, at the Court of London, 
The principles of the armed neutrality would abundantly cover 
our neutral rights. If, therefore, the situation of things, with 
respect to Great Britain, should dictate the necessity of taking 
the precaution of foreign co-operation upon this head, if no 
prospect of accommodation should he thwarted by the danger 
of such a measure being known to the British Court, and an 
entire view of all our political relations shall, in your judgment, 
permit the step, you will sound those minislers upon the proba- 
hilitij of an (lUiaiicr ivilh their nations to support those princi' 
j)lcs.'' 

One of Mr. Jay's objects was, therefore, to obtain the 
recognition of certain j^rindple-s ; but, if he should not 
succeed in this, what was he to do ? Await until they 
were assailed and put in peril at our own doors I By 
no means ; but proclaim them to the woild under the 
sanction of powers allied Avith us to enforce them, that 
it might be understood on what grounds America would 
act, and would insist to be dealt Avith. 

There is another fact in the diplomatic history of that 
epoch Avhich most strikingly illustrates Avhat opinions 
Avere entertained by the immediate advisers of Wash- 
ington Avith respect to the course Avliich it might be ex- 
l)edient for tliis country to pursue, under circuniistauces 
arising out of that neutrality Avhich, it is said, constitu- 
ted tlu'ii tlie policy of this (Jovernmeut. 



ON XOX-INTERVENTION. 



15 



But before I proceed to enter tills brancli of the sub- 
ject, let me place before you, Mr. President, a fact that 
will speak out louder than any words of mine, how far 
Washington himself considered that his proclamation 
of neutrality constrained the American Government 
from interposiug where the eternal right of nations to 
provide for themselves a suitable Government was in- 
terfered with by powers foreign to them. On the 10th 
of June, 1794, he directs his Secretary of State to in- 
struct Mr. Monroe — then our minister to France — to 
the following effect : 

" You will assure the French Government that the President 
has been an early and decided friend of the French revolution ; 
and whatever reason there may have been, under our ignor- 
ance of facts and polic}-, to suspend an opinion upon some of 
its important transactions, yet is he immutable in his wishes 
for its accomplishment — incapable of assenting to the right of 
any foreign Prince to meddle with its interior arrangements.'''' 
Isov were these proceedings on the part of the Ameri- 
can Government in contradiction with the recommen- 
dations contained in the Farewell Address, as I sliall 
hereafter most conclusively show. 

Let me now remark that the address bears date Sep- 
tember IT, 1796. We are — I mean in thought — in 1797, 
at a most critical epoch of our history, when painful 
difficidties were on the eve of breaking out between us 
and France. Washington had been recalled to the 
command of the army. Alexander Hamilton was to 
be his second in that command. Such was the confi- 
dence which Washington reposed in Gen. Hamilton 
that he made his appointment to this high rank the 
condition of his own acceptance of the trust tendered 
him Ijy President Adams. 

The Spanish colonies were in great ferment. The 
example of the British colonies had roused their spirit, 



16 MR. soule's speech 



and moved tlieiii into an active searcli of assistance to 
sliake ott* tlie authority of tlie motlier country. Tliey 
had sent to Europe emissaries, who were now holding 
council in Paris. From that place these emissaries were 
sending confidential agents in all directions to promote 
the great object of their ndssion — the emancii)ation of 
the Hispano- American colonies. They had just agreed 
to a2yyojet which they had sent to England, to be sub- 
mitted to the gigantic, though youthful, minister who 
then lorded it over the destinies of that country. 

Here is an extract from that iwojet : 

"Article 4. A defensive alliance formed between Great 
Britain, the United States, and South America, is so recom- 
mended by the nature of things — by the geographical situa- 
tion of the three countries — by the productions, wants, char- 
acter, habits, and manners of the three nations — that it is not 
possible that, it should not long continue, especially if care is 
used to consolidate it by an analogy in the political form of 
the three Governments — that is to say, by the enjoyment of 
civil liberty wisely conceived," &c. &c. 

General Miranda — Mho, uj) to this moment, liad lieen 
opposed to any such movement on the })art of the 
Spanish colonies — was i)ersuaded to join in this scheme ; 
and he immediately wrote to Mr. Hamilton, asking his 
co-operation and su})i)ort. "It a])j)ears,'" says he in 
one of his letters, "that tlie moment of our emanci- 
pation is arriving, and that the estaljlishment of liberty 
on the wliole American continent is confided to oi'R 
care ])y Providence."' Here was, you will adnut, Mr. 
President, a fair o|)portunity for testing the }»rinci})les 
of neutrality laid down in the proclamation, and tlie 
doctrine of iit)n-iiiterfercnce asserted in the Farewell 
Address, a-s constituting tlic settled ;ind ])erniancnt 
policy of the counti-\ . llciv is the answer K^i Hamilton 
to (ieiUT.-il Mii-anda : 



ON NON-INTERVEIVTION. 17 



New York, August 22, 1798. 

" The sentiments I entertain in regard to that object have 
been long since in your knov/ledge ; but I could personally 
have no participation in it, unless patronized by the Govern- 
ment of this country. It w^as my wish that matters had been 
referred for a co-operation in the course of this fall on the part 
of this couiTtry ; but that can now be scarcely the case. The 
winter, however, may mature the project, and an actual co- 
operation by the United States may take place. In this case 
1 shall be happy in my official station to be an instrument of 
so good a work. 

" The plan, in my opinion, ought to be, after that of Great 
Britain, an army of the United States — a government for the 
liberated Territories agreeable to both co-operators, but about 
which there will probably be no difficulty. To arrange the 
plan a competent authority to some person here from Great 
Britain is the best expedient. Your presence here will in this 
case be extremely essential. We are raising an army of 
12,000 men. General Washington has resumed his station at 
the head of the army. I am appointed second in command. 
" With esteem and regard, &c., A. HAMILTON." 

Nor was tMs correspondence so mysterious as not to 
admit of its secret being transferred to the cabinet 
council of Mr. Adams, and to tlie foreign minister then 
representing tliis country at the court of England. 

Mr. Hamilton encloses his answer to Miranda in a 
letter to Rufus King, in which he alludes to the disclo- 
sure which he had made in high quarters of the whole 
scheme. He writes thus, on the 22d of August, 1798 : 

"I have received several letters from Miranda. I have 
written an answer to some of them, which I send you to de- 
liver or not, according to your estimate of what is passing in 
the scene where you are. Should you deem it expedient to 
suppress my letter, you may do it, and say as much as you 
think (it on my pnrt, in the nntnve of a ronnmunication through 
you. 



18 



MR. SOULE S SPEECH 



"With regard to the enterprise in question, I wish it much 
to be undertaken: but I should be glad that the principal 
agency was in the United States — they to furnish the whole 
land force, if necessary. The command, in this case, would 
very naturally fall upon me : and I hope I should disappoint no 
favorable anticipations. * » * * 

"Are we yet ready for this undertaking? Not quite; but 
we ripen fast, and it may, I think, be rapidly brought to ma- 
turity, if an efficient negotiation is at once set on foot upon this 
ground. Great Britain cannot alone insure the accomplish- 
ment of the object. I have some time since advised certain 
preliminary steps to prepare the way consistently with nation- 
al character and justice. I was told they would be pursued ; 
but I am not able to say whether they have been or not." 

In a subsequent letter of General ^Miranda to Hamil- 
ton, I find what follows : 

"Your wishes are, in some degree, fulfilled, since it is here 
agreed (he writes from London) that the English troops shall 
not be employed in the land operations. The naval force 
shall be English, while the troops employed will be American. 
Every arrangement is made, and we are only waiting for the 
declaration of your President to depart." 

I need go no further to show that the policy whicli 
Washington meant to recommend and to act upon, was, 
that wliile we should not entangle ourselves in perma- 
nent alliances^ or implicate our interests in the onlinary 
mcissitudes and the ordinary comhinations of the poli- 
tics of ]:]ur(>pe, while Ave nii^ht trust to temporary alli- 
ances for extraordinary emergencies, we sliould not, 
tlierefore, disown ourselves, and cower beneath the fear 
of giving umbrage by a dignified assertion of our rights 
under the laws of nations. 

We have found him as early a^^ 1T04, not a year after 
the proclamation of neutrality, directing Mr, Monroe to 
give jissurances tliat he was inca 2x1/ tie of assenting to the 
rir/ht of any foreiyn priih'c to meddle with the ajfairs of 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 19 

other nations. About the same time he instructs Mr. 
Jay to sound the ministers of Russia, Denmark, and 
Sweden, as to the probabihty of an alliance with their 
nations to support certain principles, and, behold ! he 
urges the mustering of our forces at the very moment 
when Hamilton joins a combination through which an. 
American army of 12,000 men is to enter Mexico, under 
his lead, to effect the independence of that country. Is 
not this policy of action a disclaimer of that other j)ol- 
icy advocated upon this floor by the mover of the origi- 
nal resolutions, and by those who side with him ? But 
we have still another example tending to subvert the 
entire structure built up by the advocates of the policy 
of impassiveness. I have shown what construction, in 
practice, Washington had placed upon the principles 
laid down in the proclamation and in the Farewell Ad- 
dress. His policy ended not with him. It went on, in- 
fusino; itself throuQ-h those who came after him. Presi- 
dent Monroe, who had enjoyed his full confidence, who 
must be presumed to have imbibed his opinions and 
views, did not hesitate to take a bold and decisive stand, 
when came the crisis which threatened a coalition of 
certain European powers to reduce the Spanish colo- 
nies to submission, and to organize them again into mon- 
archies. You well remember, Mr. President, that fa- 
mous passage in the address which he sent to Congress 
in December, 1823; though the solemn declaration has 
fixed itself indelibly in the memories and hearts of our 
people, the circumstances that it brought about are 
comj)aratively but little known, and may not seem un- 
worthy of a brief notice. Mr. Rush, a statesman of the 
most pure patriotism, as well as of the highest order 
of intellect and talent, whose lofty cliaracter has so 
deeply impressed itself in the diplomatic history of that 



20 MR. soule's speech 



period, who exhibited in his person the rare combi- 
nation of the most profound wisdom, and the most ex- 
tensive knowledire, with tlie bland and facinatini? man- 
ners, the accomplishments and polish of the gentleman, 
who never said a word that was improper, nor l)etrayed 
a thought that might peril his country's fortmies — Mr. 
Eush was minister at the court of St. James. Among 
the important negotiations intrusted to his management 
was that of ol)taining from England a recognition of 
independence for the Spanish colonies. He ajij^roached 
the subject with inexpressible skill and adroitness, and 
soon brought the British minister to his views, by sug- 
gesting a joint declaration of the principles upon which 
that independence should be ^-indicated. The confer- 
ences whicli took ]>lace Ijetween liim and ]\Ir. Canning 
are full of a most lively interest, and pay richly the 
reader for the time he bestows u])on their ])erusal. I 
am sure I will not seem ungracious to the Senate if I 
attempt to put them in possession of some remarkable 
piissages which I have extracted from the book in which 
they are registered. 

Alluding to (1823) a note from Mr. Canning to the 
British ambassador at Paris relative to a presumed de- 
sign on the part of France to bring some of the Span- 
ish ^possessions in America under her dominion, either 
by contpiest or by cession from Spaiu, Mr. Hush had 
expressed the sentiment that it implied clearly that 
" England would not remain passive under any such at- 
temi)t by France." Mr. Canning then asked Mr. Rush, 
" What he thought the American government would say 
to going hand in liandivith England in such a policy.'''' — 
(" Uesidence at the Court of London," p. 400.) 

In the course of the same conversation Mr. Canning 



nddc.l tliat- 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 



21 



" The knowledge that the United States would be opposed 
to it as well as England could not fail to have its decisive in- 
fluence in checking it." — (Ibid, p. 403.) 

And in a note bearing date tlie 20tli of August, 
1823. lie asks again: 

" If the moment has not arrived when the two governments 
(England and the United States) might understand each other 
as to the Spanish American colonies; and if so, whether it 
would not be expedient for them, and for all the world, that 
their principles in regard to those colonies should be clearly 
settled and avowed; that as to England she had no disguise 
on the subject."— (Ibid, p. 412.) 

In reply to Mr. Canning's communication, Mr, Kush 
declared — 

" That the United States would view as unjust and improper 
any attempt on the part of the powers of Europe to intrench 
upon the independence of the Spanish possessions in America." 
And in a note of August 27, lie asserts 
"That his Government would regard the convening of a 
European Congress to deliberate upon the affairs of the Span- 
ish colonic* as a measure uncalled for, and indicative of a 
policy highly unfriendly to the tranquility of the loorld ; that 
it could nov look with incensibility upon such an exercise of 
European jurisdiction over communities now exempt from it, 
and entitled to regulate their own concerns unmolested from 
abroad."— (p. 419.) "That, could England see fit to consider 
the time as now arrived for fully acknowledging the inde- 
pendence of the new communities, he (Mr. Rush) believed 
that not only would it accelerate the steps of this Govern- 
ment, but that it would naturally place him in a new position in 
his further course on the whole subject."" 

" Should I be asked," writes Mr. Rush in his letter to the 
American Secretary of State, dated London, August 28, 1823 — 
" Should I be asked by Mr. Canning whether, in case the re- 
cognition be made by Great Britain without more delay, /«m 
on my part prepared to make a declaration, in the name of my 
Government, that it will not remain inactive under an attack 



MR. .sori.E s sPEErr< 



upon the independence of those States by the Holy Alliance, the 
present determination of my judgment is, that I will make sucu 

A DEfLARATlON- EXPLICITLY, AND AVOW IT BEFORE THE WORLD. 

(P. 421.) 

Nor was Mr. Eusli insensible of the importance of 
tlie step lie was prepared to take. In liis conmiunica- 
tion to the American Secretary of State of April 30th, 
of same year, he says : 

"I am fully sensible of the magnitude of the subjects to be 
treated of, the complicated character of the considerations in- 
volved in 77iost of them, and of their momentous bearings, in pre- 
sent and future ages, upon the interests, the icelfare, and the 
honor of the United States'' These words borrowed from the 
Secretary's own letter to which he was answering. — (P. 423.) 

On the 15th of September Mr. Rush writes to the 
President : 

"That it is still his intention to urge upon [Mr. Canning the 
immediate recognition of the new States by Great Britain as 
the only footing upon which he could feel warranted in acced- 
ing to the proposal made to him. — (P. 427.) 

Speaking of the declaration asked of him Ijy Mr. 
Canning, he remarks : 

"The value of my declaration would depend upon its being 
formally made known to Europe. Would not such a step 
wear the appearance of the United States implicating them- 
selves in the political connexions of Europe ? Would it not 
be acceding, in this instance at least, to the policy of one of 
the great European powers, in opposition to the projects 
avowed by others of the first rank ? This hitherto had been 
no part of the system of the United States. The very reverse 
of it had been acted upon. Tiieir foreign policy had been es- 
sentially bottomed on the great maxim of preserving peace 
and harmony with all nations, without otlcnding any, or form- 
ing entangling alliances with any. Upon the institutions as 
upon the dissensions of the European powers, the Government 
and people of the United States might form and even express 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 



23 



their speculative opinions ; bat it had been no part of their 
past conduct to interfere with the one, or, being unmolested 
themselves, to become parties to the others. In this broad 
principle laid one of my difficulties under his proposal." 

To this Mr. Canning would reply : 

"That, however just such a policy might have been for- 
merly, or might continue to be as a general policy, he appre- 
hended that powerful and controlling circumstances might 
make it inapplicable in particular occasions," &c. 

And upon the rejoinder Mr. Eush again says : 
"For m)' self, speaking only as an individual, I could well 
conceive that the interposition of an authoritative voice by 
the United States, in favor of these communities, admitting 
that the powers of Europe usurped a claim to control their 
destinies, would imply no real departure from the principles 
which had hitherto regulated their foreign intercourse, or 
pledge them henceforth to the political connexions of the Old 
World. ]f, too, that voice happened to be in unison with the 
voice of Great Britain, it might prove but the more auspi- 
cious to the common object which both nations had in view, 
without committing either to any systematic or ulterior con- 
cert. But I added, that as the question of the United States 
expressing this voice, and promulgating it under official au- 
thority to the powers of Europe, was one of entire novelty as 
well of great magnitude in their history, it was for my Gov- 
ernment, and not for me, to decide upon its propriety." * * 
" Let Great Britain immediately and unequivocally acknow- 
ledge the independence of the new States. * * * I will 
not scruple, on seeing that important event come about, to 
lend my official name to the course proposed, and count upon 
my Government stamping with its subsequent approval what 
1 have done."— (Pp. 436, 437.) 

Mr. Kush then goes on to tell us that — 

"By the early transmission of the proposals made to him 

by Mr. Canning, in his notes of the latter end of August, the 

copies of them, as well as of his reports of the conferences 

on the whole subject, arrived at Washington in time to en- 



24 MR. BOULE^S SPEECH 



gage the deliberations of President Monroe and his cabinet, 
before the meeting of Congress in December, and it was very 
satisfactory to him to learn that the part he had acted was 
approved.'' — (Pp. 45G, 457.) 

The policy of impassivcness, therefore, lias no war- 
rant in tlie past, and tlie warnings of Wasliington and 
of his compeers, so far, do not reach the ground cover- 
ed by this debate. Let me define distinctly the posi- 
tion which I mean to occupy. I am not for entangling 
ourselves by permanent alliances in the ordinary vicis- 
situdes of foreign politics, or in the ordinary combina- 
tions and collisions of foreign friendship or enmities. 
I am for trusting to temporary alliances in extraor- 
dinary emergencies; but I cannot be for surrender- 
ing the high rank which we are entitled to occupy at 
the council-board of nations. I can neither abdicate 
the rights which that position im})lies, nor disavow the 
obligations which it imposes; and, inasmuch as the 
amendment proposed by the distinguished Senator 
from Mchigan (Mr. Cass) carries me not beyond the 
ground embraced in the avowals just stated, to that 
amendment shall I give my unqualified support and 
vote. It embodies my views in the guarded yet signifi- 
cant form of its language; it speaks out in dignified 
tones sentiments which icspond to the throl)S of every 
American heart, and sho^^■s that while penning its re- 
solves the distinguished Senator had not out of mind 
the remark made by Washington in his message of 
December 3, 1703, ^'tliat there was a rani: due to the 
United States among nations which would he withheld^ 
if not entirely lost., by the reputation of tceahiessr 

But suppose I were in error with respect to the bearing 
of the Washingtonian policy, as exemplified by his own 
doings, the question would still remain, Avliether it was 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 



25 



ever intended it sliould remain an immutable rnle, to 
be pursued by tbis Government under what changes 
soever might occur in the history of its progress. 

Speaking of our commercial intercom-se with foreign 
nations, Washington himself, in his Farewell Address, 
recommends the "establishment of certain conventional 
rules, the lest that present circumstances and mutual 
opinions will permit^ hut temporary^ and liable to he 
from time to time alandoned or varied^ as experience 
and circumstances shall dictated 

Our policy, upon the same principle, must also change. 
It is not in the power of man to impart immutability 
to any of its works. Our policy must change ; it will 
change. Who is the statesman, where is the statesman, 
who will consider himself so constrained by the tradi- 
tions of the past as to admit that it should bind the 
present in shackles, and keep the future in thraldom ? 
Sir, we cannot thus be enslaved to the opinions and 
judgments of those who have preceded us. Are we 
the nation we were in 1793? Does Europe stand to 
us in the relation it then stood ? Consider : We were 
but three millions of people then ; we are now twenty- 
three millions. The area of our territory exceeded 
hardly eight hundred thousa'nd square miles ; it now 
measures upwards of three millions. Our commercial 
relations with the whole world embraced an aggregate 
of one hundred and fifteen millions of dollars ; they 
reach now to upwards of three hundred and eighteen 
millions ; on a comparative survey of the commercial 
progress of this country and of England we find that, 
while the mercantile movement of the United States 
in half a century has increased in the ratio of three 
hundred per cent., that of England has only attained 
two hundred per cent. Taking for granted that the 



26 MR. bottle's speech 



two coimtries will progress in tlie saDie ratio during 
the coming century, we find that in 1890 the commerce 
of the United States will be eight hundred and seventy 
millions, that of England twelve hundred millions ; 
and in 1940 the commerce of the United States will 
be twenty -three hundred and seventy-seven millions, 
while that of England will only be twenty-two hundred 
and eighty-nine millions — thus leaving the United States 
"with a surplus over England of eighty-eiglit millions. 

We have now a seacoast extending 5,620 miles in 
length; it extended in 1793 but 1,700 miles. AVeliad 
scarcely a commercial marine ; now our steam force 
alone amounts to upwards of fourteen hundi'ed steamers, 
measuring 417,283 tons ; while the whole steam marine 
of all Europe in 1848 did not exceed twelve hundred 
and twenty-fom* steamers, of 164,713 tons burden. 

To insist, sir, that while our numbers, the extent of 
our territory, our commerce, and our shipping, have so 
much changed, our interests, our wants, our rights, our 
obligations under those rights, should remain what they 
were sixty-five years ago, is to scorn the teaching of 
our judgment, and to belie the wisdom of God. 

But it is said that we should have no concern with 
interests connected with European policy, and that we 
should confine ourselves to extending our commercial 
relations with foreign countries without ever entangling 
ourselves in their politics — aye, sir, if we can so separate 
those relations as to keej) them in absolute freedom of 
each other ; but this is not in our power to effect. Com- 
mercial intercourse will, and must of necessity, beget 
])olitical entanglements. The question is not how you 
may avoid them — they will defy your prudence, and put 
in default all your dii)loniacy — but the question is, how 
will you meet them with the least jtossible danger to 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 



27 



your peace and your prosperity; you could not, if you 
would, disconnect yourselves at this day from Spain, 
England, or Russia. There they stand nailed to your 
sides. Suppose for a moment that Spain chooses to 
transfer Cuba to a foreign government, would we stand 
still? Suppose England were to exercise somewhat 
more ostensibly than she does at present her dictator- 
ship over the Central American republics, would you 
stand still? Suppose Russia should re-issue her ukase 
of 1821, and so extend the circle of prohibition, which 
she had the boldness to draw around herself, as to ex- 
clude you entirely from the northern waters of the 
Pacific, would you stand still? No, sir; you would 
not — you could not. Again, sir: suppose England 
were induced to join a European coalition, and become 
a party to another continental system^ can you realize 
what advantages Europe could tender her that would 
not be ruinous to your interests? Might not, per- 
chance, a new Pozzo de Borgo instil into the brains of 
some raving autocrat the thought, by him suggested in 
1817, of subjugating these States, in order to protect 
the world against the poisonous effects of their insti- 



*A SINGULAR HISTORICAL FACT. — The Ncw York Express, 
brings to light a singular historical fact which is not gene- 
rally known. It says that, in 1817, a Russian of eminence, M. 
Pozzo de Borgo, being then in Paris, proposed in a memoir, 
addressed to his court on the importance of replacing South 
America under the dominion of Spain, that the United States 
should be subjugated. He said that, " founded on the sover- 
eignty of the people, the Republic of the United States of 
America was a fire, of which the daily contact with Europe 
threatened the latter with conflagration ; that as an asylum 
for all innovators it gave them the means of disseminating at 
a distance, by their writings, and by the authority of their eX' 



MR. SOL'LE's speech 



I repeat it again, yon liave no power either to sur- 
render your rights or to disown your obligations. xVs- 
sert your rights and fulfil your obligations. Let the 
AYorld know that while you are prepared to comply 
with the latter, you cannot sutler the former to be 
questioned or invaded. But some will say: this is war! 
Kot quite. And if it were, I could not see that we 
ouoflit on that account aljstain from assertiusr what is 
good and just in itself Know you not, sir, that moral 
power, in time of war as well as in time of peace, acts 
the first part, and often coerces the power of numbers 
to unconditional surrender? Let me read you from 
Heffter a few lines, which define more accurately, than 
any thing I have yet read, the origin, the sanction, and 
the imposing commands of the law of nations: 

"The law of nations has neither lawgiver nor supreme 
judge, since independent States acknowledge no superior hu- 
man authority. Its organ and regulator is public opinion. 
Its supreme tribunal is history, which forms at once the ram- 
part of justice and the Nemesis by which injustice is avenged. 
Its sanction, or the obligation of all men to respect it, results 
from the moral order of the universe, which will not sutler 
nations and individuals to be isolated from each other, but 
constantly tends to unite the whole family of mankind in one 
great harmonious society." 

ample, a poison of which the communication could not be 
questioned, as it was well known that the French revolution 
had its origin in the United States; that already troublesome 
elfects were felt from the presence of the French refugees in 
the United States." The Russian ambassador went on to 
state and argue that the conquest of the United States was an 
easy enterprise ; that the degree of power to which the Amer- 
icans had risen made them objects of fear to the European 
monarchical governments, <Scc. The editor of the Express 
came in contact \vith this curious paper in the State Library 
at Albany, in an old file of the Missouri llcpublican, ])rintcd 
more than thirty years ago. 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 



29 



What ! speak you of isolation ? Have you not mark- 
ets to retain for your present excess of production, and 
markets to secure for the surplus of your future wealth ? 
Can you rely on the sympathies of Princes, Kings, or 
Czars, for a continuance of those relations which alone 
can enable you to retain the advantages which you 
enjoy on the old continent ? Disown not yourself. Be 
not unmindful that you are a member of the great 
family of nations. Do not repudiate the relations 
which that membership implies. The law that binds 
nations to each other is your law as well as theirs. 
Let it not be violated with impunity. That law rests 
on the dictates of public opinion. Will you give up 
your share in forming it ? In vain seek you to remain 
isolated. The tendencies of your political organiza- 
tion, your commercial as well as your social interests, 
that thirst after the unknown, which you can neither 
compress nor satisfy, will throw you forcibly into con- 
tact with foreign powers. What their policy may in- 
duce them to attempt against your commerce, will not 
cease to be a political aggression, though it should af- 
fect only your mercantile interest. With the progres- 
sive ratio of your production compared with your pop- 
ulation, you may-have in 1,900 an excess of seven hun- 
dred millions in your produce. Where will you find a 
market for it? In the East! — in the East! There 
you must look to for custom — thither 750,000,000 of 
consumers invite your commodities and your excess of 
wealth. The dependence of England on your great 
staple for the supply of her extensive manufactories, 
may counsel her to take you into partnership in the 
enjoyment of the gorgeous boon. But should Russia 
gain the ascendency there, what would your prospects 
be? Ilcr policy is essentially exclusive, antagonistic 



30 MR. solle's speech 



to your interest. Suppose slie lays hands on Turkey, 
and sliuts you out of tlie Mediterranean: might not 
this great basin become again the great reservoir and 
entrepot of Eastern commerce ? You see then, sir, that 
interest alone presses you on all sides not to remain iso- 
lated. In self-defence you are bound to ^^•atch every 
movement of European policy. See how strangely 
have fallen those Balkans which wise and far-seeing 
statesmen had raised in the combined strength of Hun- 
gary and Austria against the devouring ambition of 
the Cossack ! Austria, now a Russian province, is but 
a relay to the Czar on his route to Turkey. He can 
now approach Constantinople by Vienna as surely as 
by Bucharest. 

It may be too late for us to interpose a protest against 
an accomplished wrong ; it is never too late to provide 
against its recurrence. Do not late events speak loud 
of the future i See you not England herself succumb- 
ing: to the continental coalition? How anxious she 
seems not to give oifeuce to European despots I Mark 
her condescensions to their biddings. On the very day 
that Lord Palmerston was surrendering his seals, Men- 
na ^\■as revelling in joy and exultation at tlie triumph 
wliieli the anticipated fall of that minister prepared to 
Austria. Lord Malmeslniry bends in humble compli- 
ance to the remonstrances of France and Austria, and 
narrows the circle of the .liberties conceded to Euro- 
pean exiles ; and Lord Derby inaugurates his advent 
to power by Avithdrawiug the bill which extended the 
electoral franchises of the British subjects ; and thus is 
England belying her past, as if she no longer recollec- 
ted those proud days of her glory when her minister 
could exclaim in the House of Commons, "We go to 
|)l;iiit llie standard of England on the well-known 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 31 

lieiglits of Lisbon ; where tliat standard is planted for- 
eign dominion shall not come ;" or, when hurling defi- 
ance at France, then in possession of Spain, the same 
minister trium^^hantly avowed his resolution, " that if 
France had Spain, it should not be Spain with the In- 
dies ; that he had called the New World into existence 
to redress the balance of the Old." But, sir, while she 
shows herself so submissive to European despotism, see 
how menacingly she rides our waters, and how arro- 
gantly she deals out her protectorate to Nicaragua, 
Costa Rica, and the kingdom of Mosquito. Even this 
wavering and irresolute administration of ours could 
not but speak out high words of complaint — nay, sir, 
the very words of the amendment introduced by the 
Senator from Michigan, to remonstrate against the un- 
toward assumption. But, the complaint was soon 
stilled by empty excuses in one case, and in the other 
T3y the reassertion of the very right and power denied 
and protested against. The Senate will recollect what 
occurred upon the appearance of the French and Brit- 
ish squadrons in the Gulf of Mexico. A conference 
took place on that occasion between the acting Secre- 
tary of State and Mr. Crampton, then British charge 
d'affaires to this Government, and a correspondence was 
had between tlie same acting Secretary and the French 
minister, in both of which our Government asserted its 
deep concern at the unlooked-for interference, and in- 
sisted upon obtaining satisfactory explanations. The 
French minister, with a frankness and in a tone which 
do great credit to his character, and yet with that 
dignified reserve that behooved the representative of a 
great nation, met the question in perfect fairness, and 
declared, "first, that the instructions issued by the 
Government of tlip repul)lic were spontaneous and iso- 



MR. SOULE S SPEECH 



lated ; secondly, that tliose instructions were exclusive, 
for an exclusive case, and applicable only to the class, 
and not to the nationality, of any pirate or adventu- 
rer that should attempt to land in arms on the shores 
of a friendly nation." 

The answer was conclusive, and this government 
deemed it satisfactory. But how was it with the Brit- 
ish charge d'aftaires ? Tlie memorandum of the con- 
ference informs us that " ]Mr. Cramptou, at an interview 
with Mr. Crittenden at the Department of State, on the 
27th of September,* 1851, stated that liehadheen direct- 
ed hy her Majesty's government to say to the United 
States Secretary of State that her Majesty^s governrmnt 
had learned^ with deep eegeet, that expeditions have 
again l^een prepared in the ports of the United States 
for an attack upon a territory belonging to a sovereign 
at peace with the United States and in friendly relations 
with her Majesty." '• '' " '^ 

"That her Majesty's Government deem it due to the 
frankness which ought to characterize the intercourse 
between the two Governments to state to that of the 
United States, that nsii ^Iajesty's ships-of-wau on 
TUE AVest India station will have okdeks to pre- 
vent BY force any adventurers, OF ANY NATION, FROM 
LANDING WITH HOSTILE INTENT UPON THE IsLAND OF 

Cuba." I had thought, sir, that, under the prevalence 
of this doctrine of non-intervention, the illustrious states- 
man who is at the head of the State Department, with 
that tone of voice that bespeaks the dej^ths of his 
thoughts, though not always tlie invincible energy of 
his will, might have gravely tohl the British Charge: 
" Sir, this is no concern of }'ours. AVithdraw your ships. 
AVc can jiiiuistcr i(M' oiirsclvos tlie ])olic(' of oui- .'ilVairs 
over ••uf own WMto'-^."' i»iit I \\\\\ nii<t;ikcn, I think; it 



ON XON-INTERVENTION. 33 

was not Mr. Webster, but Mr. Crittenden, who then 
occuj^iecl the chair of State. And very strenuously 
does he retort, " T licit the President could not^ with- 
out CONCERN, ivitness any attempt to accomplish the oh- 
jecf in contemplation of the British Government " hij 
means ivhich might eventually lead to encroachments on 
the rights of the people of the United States ;^^ that " the 
execution of the orders received by her Majesty's squad- 
ron would be the exercise of a sort of police over the 
seas in our immediate vicinity, covered as they are with 
our ships and our citizens ; and it would involve, more- 
over, to some extent, the exercise of a jurisdiction to 
determine what expeditions were of the character de- 
nounced, as well as Avho were the guilty adventurers 
engaged in them ;" and he closed by expressing " the 
hope that there may never arise any occasion for carry- 
ing any such orders into execution." What ans\^^er, 
Mr. President, do you suppose Mr. Crampton made to 
the State Department ? Here is the communication he 
addresses to Mr. Webster on the 12th of November. 
It encloses a letter to himself from Lord Palmerston, 
reasserting, as I have already said, the very right and 
assumption of power complained of and protested 
against. 

British Legation, Washington, November 12, 1851. 

Sir: With reference to our conversation on the 10th inst., 
and in comphance with your desire, I have the honor to en- 
close a copy of the despatch addressed to me by Lord Pal- 
merston, which I then read to you, upon the subject of the or- 
ders issued to her Majesty's ships-of-war on the West Indian 
station, respecting unauthorized expeditions against the Island 
of Cuba. 

I avail myself of this opportunity to renew to you, sir, the 
assurance of my highest consideration, 

Hon. D. Webster, &c., &c. JOHN F. CRAMPTON. 
3 



84 MR. soule's speech 



[No. IG.] Foreign Office, October 22, 1851. 

Sir : I have received your despatch No. 29, of the Gth in- 
stant, and I have to acquaint you that her Majesty's Govern- 
ment approves the course pursued by you in communicating to 
the Government of the United States the orders issued by her 
Majesty's Government to the Commander-in-chief of her Ma- 
jesty's ships in the West Indies, respecting the prevention of 
laicless enpeditions against Cuba, 

If you should have any further conversation Mith the Sec- 
retary of State of the United States on this subject, you may 
assure him that every care will be taken that, in executing 
these preventive measures against the expeditions of persons 
ichom the United States Government itself has denounced as not 
being entitled to the protection of any government, no interfer- 
ence shall take place with the lawful commerce of any nation. 
I am, vtc, PALMERSTON. 

John F. Crampton, Esq., 6;:c., ifcc, &c. 

Here is, then, on the part of England, the assump- 
tion of the right not only to exercise her police over 
our waters and over vessels sailing under American co- 
lors, but to decide for herself of the nature and charac- 
ter of an expedition departing from our shores ; for, the 
squadron "has orders to jyrevent hj force ^ any adventu- 
rers OF ANY XATioN/ro/?? landing, with hostile intent,'" 
upon the island of Culia I Has I'cparatiou been yet de- 
manded of the insult thus ort'eivd to the majesty of the 
American Hag I Has the minister of England apolo- 
gized for the unceremonious evasion with which the 
charge d'aftaires escaped the necessity of a committing 
answer ? The accomplished and skilful gentleman who 
now represents Great Britain noar this Kepnblic would 
be loth to admit that liis Government had transcended 
its privileges, or miiilit, under any circumstances, sur- 
render the exercise c»f its assumed rights. Here was, 
you will admit, Mr. President, a tit opportunity for this 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 35 

Administration to disj^lay some of that watchful energy 
which it so mercilessly exhibited on a kindred occasion. 
Why is it that it suffered its wrath to be so easily sooth- 
ed and its susceptibilities to slumber ? What business 
had it to be thus tolerant and accommodating when it 
had pursued, with such an unrelenting severity and 
rancor that little band of deluded, but brave and chi- 
valrous men who had engaged in that unfortunate and 
ill-advised exjoedition which ended so miserably at Baya 
Honda ? Was it love for non-intervention that prompt- 
ed the policy which branded the invasion with deadly 
names, and doomed the invaders to an ignominious 
slaughter ? Sir, I disapproved then, as I disapprove 
now, the reckless undertaking ; but those who engaged 
in it had stout and noble hearts ; they were enthusi- 
asts — maniacs, if you choose — but enthusiasts maddened 
by the most disinterested and the most lofty aspira- 
tions. What right had this Administration to track 
them through the waters of the Gulf, beyond the line 
of our municipal jurisdiction ? Will its friends show 
me where, in the constitution, is lodged the power 
which the President thought proper to exert on that 
occasion ? And, as if the butchery made of fifty of our 
citizens, slaughtered in full daylight, within view of our 
flag waving sadly over our ships-of-war, and in wanton 
violation of the most solemn and the most explicit trea- 
ty stipulations, was not enough to satisfy the most ex- 
travagant exactions of Castilian pride, Castilian punc- 
tilio, and Castilian revenge, we are driven to witness, 
in the great metropolis of the South, the heart-rending- 
spectacle of a salute booming out to exulting Spain, re- 
pentance and atonement in the name of the United 
States of Americci ! The triumph won by the Spanish 
minister on this occasion over the susceptibilities, once 



MR. SOULES SPEECH 



SO keen, of our state.^men, has no precedent in the an- 
nals of the dii)lomatic hi<t( >ry of any nation. 

But to return to the i)resent aspect of affairs in Eu- 
rope, and to the new attitude in which England stands 
to the continental powers ; — Believe you, sir, that she 
would now Le so humbk-, so dejected, so sul)niissive to 
Austo-Iiussian dictation, if she had firmly stood up by 
those principles which her Chathams and her Cannings 
had so proudly proclaimed to the world? How dearly 
she pays for her impassiveness, while the Eoman Re- 
public was fatting under French bayonets, while Hun- 
gary was slaughtered by Russian sabres, and while 
CracoAY laid prostrate at the feet of her plunderers. 

Sir, let us not be lulled into slumber by the idea that 
w^e are too distant from Europe to be affected by her 
political convulsions. Know you not that violence and 
oppression are contagious, and that their triumph, in 
any ])oint of time, or on any point of the glol)e, reacts 
on the moral world ? 

What, Mr. President, speak of isolation, when you 
can ride your floating palaces from continent to conti- 
nent in less time than it took your fathers, fifty years 
ago, to travel from Bufialo to New York — from Boston 
to r]ii]adeli>hia I — when every wave of the ocean brings 
you swift messengers, blown over to these Avestern 
shores by the same breeze that wafted them away from 
the eastern hemisphere i — when, low as it l)eats, you 
can hear every pulsation of the European heart l>eneath 
the iron hands that strive to compress and stifle its lan- 
guid and a,i;oni/ing energies? 

But it is insisted that an expression of our symi)a- 
thies is more a matter of sentiment tlian of right and 
policy. Ah, sir, I pity the statesman who does not 
know that public sentiment, which sometimes supplies 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 37 

and sometimes corrects tlie law, is always its strongest 
support. 

Sir, believe me, it is our interest, and if not our in- 
terest, our duty, to keep alive, by good offices among 
the nations of Europe, that reverence for the institu- 
tions of our country, that devout faith in their efficacy, 
which looks to their promulgation throughout the 
world as to the great millennium which is to close the 
long calendar of their wrongs. Let their flame light 
np the gloom and dispel the darkness that now envelop 
them. Humbled though they be, despise them not. It 
was not their choice, but treachery that made them 
slaves ; and if you should ask why is it they seem to 
look with approving smiles and contented hearts to the 
hands that brandish the rod over them, forget not those 
deluded wretches destined to the beasts, for the enter- 
tainment of the Roman Emperors, who could not be 
persuaded that Caesar was not Rome ; and who, upon 
entering the Coliseum, as they passed his seat, would 
bow to him, in respectful submission, and exclaim: 
'•'■Cce-mr^ morituri te salutanf — Caesar, though doomed 
to die, we salute you. 

I heard, the other day, the honorable Senator from 
Tennessee, in one of those soul-stirring feats of elo- 
quence so peculiarly his own, disclaim that there be 
anything like destiny in the callings of a nation. How 
could he have thus overlooked that there is not a work 
of God's wisdom, nor a striving of the human intellect, 
that bears not the indelible seal of destiny ? Onward ! 
onward! is the injunction of God's will, as much as 
Ahead! ahead! is the aspiration of every American 
heart. We boast exultingly of our wisdom. Do we 
mean to hide it under the bushel, from fear that its 
light would set the world in flames ? As well might 



38 MR. soule's speech 



Cliristiaiiity have been confined to tlie walls of a 
cliiircli or to the enclosures of a cloister. What had it 
effected for mankind, what had it effected for itself, 
without the spirit that promulged it to the world ? On- 
ward ! onward I ! To stand still is to lie lifeless — inertia 
is death. Had Mahomet stood still, Avould he and the 
mountain have got together ? Had the colonies stood 
still, would this be the Government it is ? Had Jeffer- 
son and Polk stood still, would Louisiana be ours ? 
A^"o^ld Texas, would California, sit here in the bright 
garments of their sovereignty ? 

You commend the policy of the fathers of the repub- 
lic as if time, that withers the strength of man, did not 
"throw around him the ruins of his jn'oudest monu- 
ments." Have I not shown how mutable it had been ? 
Let us not calumniate the j^ast by fastening its usurpa- 
tions upon the future. I revere its teachings, l^ut can- 
not submit to make them the measure of i)rc'sent "wis- 
dom. Speaking of the sages whose names and author- 
ity have so often been invoked in this debate, the elder 
Adams attempts to exculpate the narrowness of their 
views and policy by this remark : " The present actors 
on the stage have been too little prepared by their 
early views, and too much occupied with turbulent 
scenes, to do more than they have done." And with 
what ardent fervor and hope, with what enthusiasm, he 
speaks of the scenes which display tliemselves to his 
view in the future of his country ! " A prosi)ect into 
futurity in America is like contemplathig the heavens 
through the teh'scope of Herschel. Objects stupend- 
ous in their magnitncK' and motions strike us from all 
quarters and fill us with annizement!" 

My reverence for opinions consecrated by tlie author- 
ity of the sages who preceded us will not induce me to 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 



39 



disintegrate tliis republic, and sliear from its domain 
Louisiana, Texas, Florida, tlie Californias, and New 
Mexico, because, forsootli, Washington, Adams, and 
Hamilton may liave lield that any accession of new 
territory to tlie area embraced by the old States was 
unconstitutional. I could not give a vote for tbe re- 
cliartering of a national bank because its institution bad 
tlie assent of the same great men. Nor could I shut 
my ears, on their account, to those whisperings of the 
future that betoken the rising of new generations im- 
patient to throw themselves on our lap. Sir, I have a 
mind to place before you the record of strange prophe- 
cies made on the future growth, strength, prosperity, 
and empire of these States, at a time when they were 
but dependent and subordinate colonies of a distant 
nation. They are to be found spread over in the memo- 
rials of Mr. Pownall, who lived eight years in the 
colonies, from 1753 to 1756, who held successively the 
offices of Lieutenant Governor of New Jersey, of Gover- 
nor of Massachusetts, and of Governor of South Caro- 
lina, and who in those three capacities must be presum- 
ed to have been aiforded every opportunity that could 
enable him well to appreciate in the people that sur- 
rounded him that peculiar forwardness and energy of 
purpose which have since realized so wonderfully what 
that great and wise man had contemplated in vision, 
through the telescope of his far-seeing mind. Sir, I feel 
assured that the Senate will thank me for trespassing 
yet a moment upon its patience, while I shall read some 
of his most strikins^ revelations : 

" North America has advanced, and is every day advanc- 
ing, to growth of State, with a steady and continually accele- 
rating motion, of which there has never yet been any exam- 
ple in Europe." #******* 



40 ME. soule's speech 



" It is young and strong." * * * " Jts strength will grow 
with its years, and it will establish its constitution and perfect 
adultness in growth of State. To this greatness of empire 
it will certainly arise." * * * " America will become the 
arbitress of the commercial world, and perhaps the mediatrix 
of peace, and of the political business of the irorld.''' 

" Whoever knows these people will consider them as ani- 
mated, in this new world, if 1 may so express it, icith the spirit 
of the new pliilosophyy 

"Here one sees the inhabitants laboring after the plough, 
or with the spade and hoe, as though they had not an idea 
beyond the ground they dwell upon ; yet is their mind all the 
while enlarging all its powers, and their spirit rises as their 
improvements advance." 

"The independence of America is fixed as fate. She is 
mistress of her own fortune; knows that she is so, and will 
actuate that power which she feels, both so as to establish 
her own system and to change the system of Europe.''' 

"Those sovereigns of Europe who have been led by the 
ofiice system and worldly wisdom of their ministers — who, 
seeing things in those lights, have despised the unfashioned, 
awkward youth of America — when they shall find the system 
of this new empire not only obstructing but superceding the 
old systems of Europe, and crossing upon the effects of all 
their settled maxims and accustomed measures, they will call 
upon these their ministers and wise men, ' Come, curse mc 
this people, for they arc too mighty for wr;' their statesmen 
will be dumb ; but the spirit of truth will answer, ' IIuic shall 
I curse uhom God hath not cursed?'''' 

" America will come to market in its own shipping, and will 
claim tlie ocean as common — will claim a navigation re- 
strained by no laws but the law of nations, rclormcd as the 
rising crisis requires." 

"America will seem every day to approach nearer and 
nearer to Europe. When the alarm which the idea of going to 
a strange and distant county gives to the homely notions of a 
European manufacturer or peasant shall be thus worn out, a 
thousand repeated repulsive feelings respecting their present 
home, a thousand attractive motives respecting the settle- 



ON NON-INTERVENTION. 



41 



ment which they will look to in America, will raise a spirit 
of adventure, and become the irresistible cause of an almost 
general emigration to that new world.^'' 

" Whether the islands in those parts called the West Indies 
are naturally parts of this North American communion, is a 
question, in the detail of it, of curious speculation, but of no 
doubt as to the fact." 

Then, giving way to tlie entliusiasm of Ms pro- 
phetic spirit, lie addresses himself in direct language to 
America : 

" A nation to whom all nations will come ; a power whom 
all powers of Europe will court to civil and commercial al- 
liances ; a people to whom the remnants of all ruined 
people will fly; whom the oppressed and injured of every na- 
tion will seek for refuge," he exclaims, " actuate your sov- 

EREIGNTV, EXERCISE THE POWERS AND DUTIES OF YOUR THRONE."' 

Arise ! ascend thy lofty seat, 
Be clothed with thy strength — 
Lift up on high a standard to the nations ! ! ! 
Mr. Cass. He was an old fogy after my own heart. 
Mr. SouLE. And I rejoice that yours is a heart as 
stout and comprehensive as his. 

Sir, public opinion has already responded to that 
mighty appeal from the past. It scorns the presump- 
tuous thought, that you can restrain this now" grown 
country within the narrow sphere of action assigned to 
its nascent energies, and keep it eternally bound up in 
swaddles. As the infant grows, it will require more 
substantial nourishment; more active exercise. The 
lusty appetites of its manhood would ill fare with what 
might satisfy the sober demands of a younger age. 
Attempt not, therefore, to stop it in its on^^rard career, 
attempt it not ; for as well might you command the 
sun not to break through the fleecy clouds that herald 
its advent on the horizon, or to shroud itself in gloom 
and darkness as it ascends the meridian. 



APPENDIX. 



The following original letter from General Washington to 
Mr. Madison, was introduced by Mr. Soule in the course of 
his speech, in illustration of one of the points he made, to the 
effect that the policy attributed to Washington was not among 
the suggestions which he submitted to Mr. Madison when he 
requested him to prepare a form for his Farewell Address. 
Mount Vernon, May 20, 1792. 

My Dear Sir : As there is a possibility, if not a probability, 
that I shall not see you on your return home ; or, if I should 
see you, it may be on the road and under circumstances which 
will prevent my speaking to you on the subject we last con- 
versed upon, I take the liberty of committing to paper the fol- 
lowing thoughts and requests : I have not been unmindful of 
the sentiments expressed by you in the conversation just allu- 
ded to. On the contrary, I have again and again revolved 
them, with thoughtful anxiet}^ but without being able to dis- 
pose my mind to a longer continuance in the office I have yet 
the honor to hold. I therefore still look forward to the fulfill- 
ment of my fondest and most ardent wishes, to spend the re- 
mainder of my days (which I cannot expect will be many) in 
ease and tranquillity. Nothing short of conviction that my 
dereliction of the Chair of Government (if it should be the de- 
sire of the people to continue me in it) would involve the 
country in serious disputes respecting the Chief Magistrate, 
and the disagreeable consequences which might result there- 
from, in the floating and divided opinions which so prevail at 
present, could in no wise induce me to relinquish the determi- 
nation I have formed ; and of this I do not see how any evi- 
dence can be obtained previous to the election. My vanity, I 
am sure, is not of that cast, as to allow me to view the sub- 
ject in this light. Under these impressions then, permit me to 
reiterate the request I made to you at our last meeting, name- 
ly : To think of the proper time and the best mode of announc- 



44 



ing the intention, and that you would prepare the latter. In 
revolving this subject myself my judgment has always been 
embarrassed. On the one hand, a previous declaration to re- 
tire, not onl}' carries with it the appearance of vanity and 
self-importance ; but it maybe construed into a mana?uvreto 
be invited to remain. And on the other hand, to say nothing 
implies consent, or at any rate would leave the matter in 
doubt ; and to decline afterwards might be deemed as bad and 
uncandid. I would fain carry my request to you fiirther than 
is asked above. Although I am sensible that your compliance 
with it must add to your trouble ; but as the recess may af- 
ford you leisure, and I flatter myself you have disposition to 
oblige me, I will, without apology, desire (if the measure in 
itself should strike you as proper and likely to produce public 
good or private honor) that you would turn your thoughts to 
a valedictory address for me to the public, expressing in plain 
and modest terms, that having been honored with the presi- 
dential chair, and to the best of my abilities, contributed to 
the organization and administration of the government ; that 
having arrived at a period of life when the private walks of 
it, in the shade of retirement, becomes necessary and will be 
most pleasant to me, and the spirit of the Government may 
render a rotation in the elective ofticers of it, more congenial 
with their ideas of liberty and safety ; that I take my leave of 
them as a public man, and in bidding them adieu, (retaining 
no other concern than such as will arise from fervent wishes 
for the i)rosperity of my country,) I take the liberty at my de- 
parture from civil, as I formerly did at my military exit, to 
invoke a continuance of the blessings of Providence upon it, 
and upon all those who are the supporters of its interests, and 
the promoters of harmony, order, and good government. 

That to impress these things, it might among other things 
be observed, that we are all the children of the same country 
— a country great and rich in itself — capable, and promising 
to be as happy as any the annals of history have ever brought 
to our view. That our interests, however diversifled in local 
and smaller matters, is the same in all the great and essential 
concerns of the nation. That the contrast of our country, the 
diversity of our climate and soil, and the various productions 



APPENDIX. 45 

of the States, consequent of both, are such as to make one part 
not only convenient, but perhaps indispensably necessary to 
the other part, and may render the whole (at no distant peri- 
od) one of the most independent in the world. That the es- 
tablished government being the work of our own hands, with 
the seeds of amendment engrafted in the Constitution, may, 
by wisdom, good dispositions and mutual allowances, aided by 
experience, bring it as near to perfection as any human insti- 
tution ever approximated ; and, therefore, the only strife among 
us ought to be : who should be foremost in facilitating and 
finally accomplishing such great desirable objects, by giving 
every possible support and cement to the Union. That 
however necessary it may be to keep a watchful eye over 
public servants and public measures, yet there ought to be 
limits to it ; for suspicions unfounded, and jealousies too lively, 
are irritating to honest feelings, and oftentimes are productive 
of more evil than good. 

To enumerate the various subjects which might be introdu- 
ced into such an Address would require thought, and to men- 
tion them to you would be unnecessary, as your own judg- 
ment will comprehend all that will be proper. Whether to 
touch specially any of the exceptionable parts of the Consti- 
tution may be doubted ; all I shall add therefore at present, is 
to beg the favor of you to consider — 

1st. The propriety of such an Address; 

2d, If approved, the several matters which ought to be con- 
tained in it ; and 

3d. The time it should appear — that is, whether at the de- 
claration of my intention to withdraw from the service of the 
public, or to let it be the closing act of my administration, 
which will end with the next session of Congress, (the proba- 
bility being that that body will continue setting until March,) 
when the House of Representatives will also dissolve. 

Though I do not wish to hurry you (the cases not pressing) 
in the execution of either of the publications before men- 
tioned, yet I should be glad to hear from you, generall^^, on 
both, and to receive them in time, if you should not come to 



46 



Philadelphia until the session commences, in the form they 
are to take. 

I beg leave to draw your attention also to such things as 
you shall conceive fit subjects for communication on that oc- 
casion, and noting them as they occur, that you would be so 
good as to furnish me with them in time to be prepared, and 
be engrafted with others for the opening of the session. 

With very sincere and affectionate regard, I am ever your?, 

G. WASHINGTON. 

James Madison, Jr., Esq. 



W46 



• •» 



.•^^•*«, 






.-^'' »•' 



-^^0^ 



-^ .^^ 

vV 






-u 

^^. 



N^ 



-^c 












.0^ 






'^..^^ 



5^V 









/\. 










:v7« ./\ 



>-. >° .-^^s^W. °^ .M"^ ♦W^ 











• /% " 







^^-^^^ 









^.j^'. 



<?> * e M o 






•.V- ^-r, ♦. 



'" .'^^\ 

















s* ..i 







0°*.l^J^.>o 























*^„.^* .• 



,♦ V "* 



Atf" 







/.- 











O, *'.♦•» 










.• ^^'^^ -: 






*" ^^'-^ 






V 



V »'*"' c>* 



WW 
BOOK6INDINC H J. -.^ 
^ .lu P., N \2 













"°^ 



•i-" . 










k> . o « a . •Vv 




.JT-TV 



.,-J' 



